The Australian Beverages Council has responded to the government’s announcement that it has commissioned a study into the effects of mixing alcohol and energy drinks. [ + ]

A decision on importing pineapples has prompted an argument between the federal and Queensland Ministers for Agriculture, with John McVeigh calling Joe Ludwig a “coward” and Ludwig accusing McVeigh of failing to understand Australia’s biosecurity system. [ + ]

Researchers at Swinburne University of Technology are working to develop early detection of Campylobacter jejuni bacteria - a significant contributor to foodborne illness in Australia and around the world. [ + ]

PAC.NZ has released the Year Two Progress Report for its Packaging Product Stewardship Scheme, which reports a second year of success for the scheme. [ + ]

The New Zealand Ministry of Primary Industries has released a revised and updated information booklet for the food industry - A Guide to Calculating the Shelf-Life of Foods. [ + ]

UK food and drink manufacturers have smashed apprenticeship targets for 2012, tripling the number of apprenticeships across the industry. [ + ]

Brambles Limited has signed a sale and purchase agreement to acquire Pallecon, a leading provider of intermediate bulk container (IBC) solutions in Europe and the Asia-Pacific, for €135 million. [ + ]

Importers who comply with biosecurity requirements can have their goods released up to 100 times more quickly than those who don’t comply, DAFF has said. [ + ]

New Zealand and the US have signed a Food Safety Systems Recognition Arrangement - a document signifying that each country recognises the other’s food safety systems as providing a comparable degree of food safety assurance. [ + ]

One of southern Queensland’s biggest meat manufacturers has received a $6.2 million grant to invest in clean technology to improve its production efficiency and cut energy costs in its operations. [ + ]

A team of researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science has developed a lightweight smartphone attachment that can detect allergens in food samples. [ + ]

The Australian Food and Grocery Council has commented on the Northern Territory Container Deposit Scheme, arguing that beverage companies need certainty regarding their ongoing legal obligations. [ + ]

Professor Daryl Joyce of UQ’s School of Agriculture and Food Sciences has been selecting and evaluating new varieties of the ancient Chinese red bayberry fruit (Myrica rubra) for commercialisation in Australia. [ + ]

A team of scientists from the Research Laboratories at the Fondazione di ricerca e cura Giovanni Paolo II have found that the poorest people in the Mediterranean region simply can’t afford to stick to the Mediterranean diet. [ + ]

“2013 looks like it’s shaping up as another tough slog for Australian businesses, with no indication the international economy will improve dramatically or that we will see any pressure taken off the high Australian dollar,” said NSW Business Chamber CEO Stephen Cartwright. [ + ]